Andhra Pradesh

SAAP to clear tax dues

HYDERABAD: The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) has asked the Income Tax Department to give time till March next year to clear off dues of about Rs. 2 crore to paid as tax from the cash incentives given to sportspersons since 2001.

As per the directive issued by the Union Finance Ministry, any payment – be it cash incentive for excellence in sports or anything will invite a tax deduction of a minimum of 30 per cent and this increases on the slab in which the beneficiary fits in.

For instance, if a sportsperson is given cash incentive of anything above Rs. 5,000, he will henceforth only get the benefit only after a minimum of 30 per cent income tax deduction as the I-T Department treats it as a source of revenue.

Having doled out cash incentives worth lakhs of rupees over the last six years, SAAP is now being forced to pay the tax from its coffers. “As it was not fair to ask sportspersons to pay the dues we have decided to seek time till next March to clear them off from our own side,” said a senior SAAP official.

All efforts made by the Indian Olympic Association to find alternative solution by holding talks with the officials of the Finance Ministry did not succeed.

“We have sought exemption to be granted for athletes from paying the tax since the incentives were to promote sports for excellence and not a commercial venture but it was not to be,” the official explained.

This comes as another shock to the sportspersons as non-Olympic medallists at the national and international meets are being denied cash incentives.

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